Posted on 10/20/2023 9:38:07 AM PDT by Red Badger
New York — The judge in former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial lashed out at him this morning for failing to remove from his campaign website a derogatory post about the judge's clerk.
The post, which was spotted Thursday by liberal PAC website MeidasTouch, was a duplicate of one posted to Trump's social media site on Oct. 3, and deleted soon after New York Judge Arthur Engoron issued a limited gag order, barring Trump from posting or speaking publicly about the judge's staff.
The campaign replication of the deleted post has since also been removed, but Engoron appeared quite angry Friday.
He asked Trump's lawyers why he shouldn't impose "serious" sanctions, "including financial sanctions" "or possibly imprisoning him."
Trump attorney Christopher Kise apologized and said it was an errant oversight, arguing that it was "truly inadvertent," due to the presidential campaign's "machinery" replicating the post on its website. Kise said there haven't been any subsequent postings about the clerk or other court staff.
Kise said there haven't been any subsequent postings about the clerk or other court staff.
Engoron didn't immediately seem swayed. Donald Trump is still responsible for the large machine," Engoron told him.
Engoron did not say if Trump will face sanctions, but that he was taking Kise's defense under advisement.
Later, after a mid-morning break, Kise addressed the removed post again. He said the post was only highlighted by the campaign to an email list of roughly 25,810 people who work in media, and that ultimately a fraction of that number visited the post on the campaign website.
"Between Oct. 3 and Oct. 19, there were a little over 114 million visitors to the campaign website. Only 3,701 viewed – they're called unique views – viewed the post. That would include anyone that received the email," Kise said.
"Well, you and I are both becoming more tech savvy," Engoron replied.
A spokesperson for the campaign did not reply to a request for comment.
Tensions have been high this week in the case, in which Trump, his adult sons and The Trump Organization are accused of overvaluing Trump's properties and net worth in an alleged scheme to get favorable loans and insurance that benefited them at least $250 million.
The judge issued a ruling last month finding that Trump and his company "repeatedly" violated state fraud law. Trump and the other defendants have all denied wrongdoing in the case. Their attorneys have argued that what James' office calls fraud were subjective valuations of property and wealth.
On Thursday, an attorney for New York Attorney General Letitia James could be heard during a sidebar calling Kise "rude."
The day before, two of James' attorneys yelled at Kise when he said they didn't care about a witness's right against self incrimination.
That altercation played out in front of Trump, who is not required to attend the trial, but did so on Tuesday and Wednesday. Moments before James' attorneys yelled at Kise, they had asked Engoron to admonish Trump, saying he was intimidating the witness, loudly expressing frustration at testimony, shaking his head back and forth and throwing his hands in the air.
Engoron obliged, looking toward Trump's team and saying, "I 'll ask everyone to be quiet while the witness is testifying."
my bad I was confusing the NY freak with the other freak judge
"dog bites man"
Are you sure you’re not misgendering them?
They may be misgendering themselves.....................
I don’t buy into that nonsense.
I call em like I see em...............
It’s hard to tell them apart nowadays.
Perhaps we need a program.......................
Limiting what a presidential candidate can say on a campaign website just might be the most blatant violation of the First Amendment I’ve ever heard of.
Once Trump wins this issue on appeal, Trump’s lawyers need to sue the judge for Violation of Civil Rights under Color of Law. My understanding is none of the normal immunities such as judicial immunity apply because the law is specifically targeted at abuse of government authority.
Even with heavy irons binding his ankles to a thick chain, having been starved and beaten, his mouth gag slipping, Trump tried to exercise freedom of speech in America with a few words.
Not a chance to let that go by.
Note: Above is from November, 2024, posted here early.
Other judges would protect their colleague.......................
Bonus: That might force the judge to recuse himself.
RIP the 1st amendment.
Ah, but that could be a jury trial...
Also, not all judges like each other. A little forum shopping could come in handy...
I have no problem putting Trump in jail IF it is proven he broke a law. Same with Deep State operatives. What do you think?
I’m almost looking forward to a complete collapse of our government so that fascists like this judge can be taken to the closest tall tree for proper treatment.
Prison time and other punishments are a joke in today’s USA. They are used against political enemies, not against criminals. They are letting criminals walk the streets, but they throw people in jail for talking.
Rioters break into the Capitol, and are let free if they are democrats, but thrown in jail if they are Republicans.
“Law enforcement” in the USA is a joke, a farce, a travesty.
Every time I see that judge I gag.
The judge is like a rabid dog.
So Trump can go to jail for something his web support team does? Who wants a banana?
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